Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate his country's trade deficit with the United States during a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, but the US president says his administration is not looking to pause tariffs that have shaken global financial markets.
In an address alongside Mr Trump in the Oval Office on Monday local time, Mr Netanyahu also said he would look to remove trade barriers between Israel and the US.
"We're going to also eliminate trade barriers, a variety of trade barriers that have been put up unnecessarily," Mr Netanyahu said.
"I think Israel can serve as a model for other countries that ought to do the same.
"I recognise the position of the United States that says: 'We are allowing other countries to put tariffs on us, but we don't put tariffs on them'.
"I'm a free trade champion and free trade has to be fair trade."
Mr Netanyahu's commitment comes after Mr Trump announced a 17 per cent tariff to be applied to Israeli goods that come into the US.
The United States, Israel's closest ally and largest single trading partner, last year had a $US7.4 billion ($12.3 billion) trade deficit with Israel.
When asked if his administration would look to pause those tariffs while negotiations with Israel are ongoing, Mr Trump said he is looking to secure "fair deals" for the US.
""Well, we're not looking at [a pause]. We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us and they're going to be fair deals," Mr Trump said.
"In certain cases they're going to be paying substantial tariffs. There'll be fair deals.
"We've been ripped off and taken advantage of by many countries over the years, and can't do it anymore."
Israel had already moved to cancel its remaining tariffs on US imports last Tuesday.
The two countries signed a free trade agreement 40 years ago and about 98 per cent of goods from the United States are now tax-free.
The leaders' White House meeting followed a day of significant financial losses on global markets, including almost $110 billion of share value being wiped off the ASX, in the wake of the tariffs announced by the US president.
Trump to hold 'major meeting' with Iran over nuclear program
The US president also told reporters in the Oval Office that his administration and Iran were beginning direct talks on Tehran's nuclear program, in a surprise announcement made after Iranian officials had appeared to rebuff US calls for such negotiations.
Iran had pushed back against Mr Trump's demands that it directly negotiate over its nuclear program or be bombed, though it had initially left the door open to indirect discussions.
"We're having direct talks with Iran, and they've started. It'll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we'll see what can happen," Mr Trump said.
"And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable."
Mr Trump also refused to say whether his administration would look to take military action against Iran if the negotiations collapse, but said if the talks weren't successful "Iran's going to be in great danger".
"They can't have a nuclear weapon. It's not a complicated formula, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That's all there is," the president said.
"If the talks aren't successful, I actually think it'll be a very bad day for Iran, if that's the case."
Warnings by Mr Trump of military action against Iran had jangled already tense nerves across the Middle East after open warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, military strikes on Yemen, a change of leadership in Syria and Israeli-Iranian exchanges of fire.
Saturday's meeting will come after Mr Trump said on March 7 that he had written to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to suggest talks. Iranian officials said at the time that Tehran would not be bullied into negotiations.
During his 2017-2021 term, Mr Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran's sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief. He also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.
Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal's limits on uranium enrichment.
Western powers accuse Iran of having a clandestine agenda to develop nuclear weapons capability by enriching uranium to a high level of fissile purity, above what they say is justifiable for a civilian atomic energy program.
Tehran says its nuclear program is wholly for civilian energy purposes.
Israel negotiating fresh hostage release deal, Netanyahu says
Mr Netanyahu said during his White House appearance that new negotiations were in the works, aimed at getting more hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
"We're working now on another deal that we hope will succeed, and we're committed to getting all the hostages out," he said in the Oval Office.
Mr Trump echoed that messaging, saying his administration is "trying very hard to get the hostages out".
"We're looking at another ceasefire, we'll see what happens," he said.
The Israeli leader highlighted an earlier hostage release agreement negotiated in part by Mr Trump's regional envoy Steve Witkoff that "got 25 out".
Mr Netanyahu's visit to Washington DC follows the collapse of Israel's six-week truce with the Palestinian terror organisation Hamas, whose militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that triggered the war.
The fragile ceasefire ended with Israel's resumption of air strikes on Gaza on March 18.
The recent truce had allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom were dead, in exchange for the release of some 1,800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
The prime minister and his government maintain — against the advice of most hostage families — that increased military pressure is the only way to force Hamas to return the remaining hostages, dead or alive.
Of the 251 hostages abducted during Hamas's October 7 attack, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.
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